翱翔天际对于人类来说曾经不过是不切实际的梦想，而现在普通如你我也能轻易实现。太轻易以至于我们很少想到，在这背后有一群默默付出的人。他们从事着特殊的职业，他们没有翅膀，却帮众人飞翔。
Welcome to see the pilot's work from the inside. 欢迎从内部来了解飞行员的工作。
1. The Office of Secrets
1. “密室”
The aeronavigation1) information office is the sanctuary2) of the airport workers. This is the place where the airport plans, flight charts and necessary documentation is kept.
空中导航信息室是机场工作人员的圣地。机场计划、飞行图表和一些重要文件就存放于此。
The aeronavigation information office provides the pilot with a briefcase with documents, compilations3) and other important stuff. The office has got the company's flight timetable for the following 24 hours and the dispatcher4) completes the briefcase with the compilations, maps and the calculation data for every flight and also strictly watches over5) the corrections and changes to be included. Every briefcase receives a sticker with a flight date, time, second pilot's name and the destination city.
空中导航信息室会向每位飞行员提供一个装着文件、汇编资料和其他重要物品的公文包。信息室收到航空公司接下来24小时的航班时间表后，签派员会为每趟航班准备好要放入公文包的汇编资料、地图和计算数据，并对所做的修正和变更进行严格审查。每个公文包内都有一张标着航班日期、时间、副驾驶员姓名和目的地城市的标签。
2. Leave Nothing to Chance
2. 万无一失
Then the preliminary preparation takes place. Thepilot learns the flight workload (quantity of passengers, luggage, load) proceeding from6) the prior data, calculates and defines the amount of fuel needed. Meanwhile the second pilot specifies the flight route, connection frequency etc.
接着前期准备就开始了。飞行员通过之前得到的数据来了解飞机载荷(乘客、行李以及货物的总量)，计算并确定所需燃油量。同时，副驾驶负责确定航班路线、联络频率等事项。
A pilot flies the routes that his aircraft operates. One gets to choose his route and the choice becomes better the more senior he is. If the pilots are going to the destination for the first time, the preparation is made beforehand—two or three days before the flight. In such a case the crew scrutinizes7) the peculiarities8) of the flight, refinements9) and possible difficulties. Preparation for an ordinary flight, though, takes 25-30 minutes and the crew heads to the airport.
飞行员飞哪条航线由他驾驶哪架飞机而定。飞行员自己选择要飞的航线，当然资历越深，就能选到越好的航线。如果飞行员是第一次飞往某个目的地，就要提前准备——一般是飞行前两三天。在这种情况下，机组人员要对飞行特性、修正之处和可能遇到的困难进行详查。而对普通飞行的准备一般需要25~30分钟，接着机组人员便会前往机场。
For a flight to take place, dozens of services and hundreds of people have to work smoothly and in constant contact with one another. If there is the smallest malfunction in the operation, the flight is going to be 100% delayed.
一架航班要正常起飞需要几百名工作人员进行几十项准备工作，这些工作必须平稳顺畅地进行，而且工作人员之间也得保持频繁联系。这些操作过程中要是出现哪怕只是最小的故障，航班都将百分之百被延误。
When the plane is ready, the technicians10), smelling of kerosene11), deal with their dark12) technical stuff. Different service vehicles start to come round (fuel, food, trade, luggage), and they all start to work simultaneously. They are fast, accurate and well-organized.
当飞机准备就绪，身上有航空煤油味的技师们开始了他们鲜为人知的技术工作。不同的服务车辆开始来来往往(加油车、食品车、货物车、行李车)。它们都同时开始工作，快速、准确、有序。
In the meantime the pilots have their own concerns—they start the plane systems check and computer programming.
在此期间飞行员也有自己的事要忙，他们开始飞机系统检查和计算机编程。
While passengers make themselves comfortable in the passenger compartment13), the work is in full swing14) in the cockpit15). The pilots get the last information about the weather, specify the runway to take off from and carry out a short briefing16) on the coming flight. Every possible situation (fire, engine failure or any other accident) is analysed thoroughly.
当乘客们安坐在客舱里时，驾驶舱里的工作正在热火朝天地进行。飞行员获得最新的天气信息，确认起飞跑道，并对即将进行的飞行做简要汇报。对每种可能出现的状况(火灾、引擎故障或其他意外事故)，他们都会进行详尽的分析。
3. Soar Above the Clouds
3. 冲上云霄
When all the passengers are on board, the assistant brings the documents. Some other details are specified with the dispatcher and technicians and the plane takes off.
当所有的乘客都已登机，助理会送来文件。签派员和技师具体说明一些其他的细节，然后飞机就起飞了。
On the very longest sectors, there will be two full crews. They could do basically half of the flight each, but the person who takes the aircraft off, whether it be the co-pilot17) or the captain, will be expected to land it. On other sectors, there will be just three crew members, and on the very shorter sectors there will be two. There's no time for breaks on that. With three crew members, each one gets a period away from the controls—about three hours.
在最长距离的航班上将会配备两组完整的飞行员。他们基本可以各负责一半的航程，但驾机起飞的人，无论他是副驾驶还是机长，也要负责让飞机降落。其他航班只有三名飞行员，短程航班则只有两名。这种情况下，他们在飞行期间没有时间休息。在有三名飞行员的情况下，他们每人都可以有一段时间不用操控飞机——大约三个小时。
What do pilots do to pass the time on long flights? "What I always do is, once you get up into the cruise18), for example, half hour on, half hour off. When it's my half hour on, then I'll do the radio; I'll get the weather; I'll do everything that we have to do. That way, it gives you time to relax your brain, relax your ears, and you're fresh then, and it's good." said Ian Pullin, a pilot for over twenty years for British Airways.
在远程航班上飞行员靠什么来打发时间？“我一直是这样做的：一旦进入了巡航，我就会，例如说，工作半小时，休息半小时。轮到我工作的半小时，我会听无线电，了解天气情况，我会做所有我们必须做的事情。这样就能有时间放松大脑，放松耳朵，之后又会精力充沛了。这样很好。”伊恩·普林说，他是一位在英国航空公司工作了二十多年的飞行员。
4. Welcome Home
4. 欢迎回家
When landing at the final destination, traffic is often very dense, and it usually takes an hour to refuel the plane, clean up the compartments, load the passengers and take off.
当飞机降落到最终目的地时，交通往往非常拥挤。给飞机加油、清理客舱、乘客登机并再度起飞，完成这些工作通常需要一个小时。
When the flight is over, the plane is returned to the technicians, and the pilots return home.
飞行结束后，飞机被交回给技师，飞行员们就可以回家了。
That is how pilots work—in the morning, daytime, evenings and even at night. There's no such thing as a typical day. You either start early, or you start late, and you work until you get to the other end, but there's no routine. Besides, there are no holidays or weekends: only days off and vacations. Pilots work whenever and there is nothing to be done—people need to fly ...
飞行员就是这样工作的——在清晨、白天、傍晚、甚至夜间。这里没有所谓的常规的一天。你的工作开始得时早时晚，直到抵达终点你才能结束工作，没有固定日程。而且也没有节假日和周末，只有轮休和休假。飞行员在任何时候都可能要工作，这没办法——人们需要飞行……
1. aeronavigation [ˈeərəʊˌnævɪˈɡeɪʃ(ə)n] n. 空中导航
2. sanctuary [ˈsæŋktʃuəri] n. 避难所；圣所
3. compilation [ˌkɒmpəˈleɪʃ(ə)n] n. 汇编
4. dispatcher [dɪˈspætʃə(r)] n. 签派员；调度员
5. watch over: 监督；照管；保护(免受危害)
6. proceed from: 发出，出自
7. scrutinize [ˈskruːtɪnaɪz] vt. 仔细观察
8. peculiarity [pɪˌkjuːliˈærəti] n. 特性
9. refinement [rɪˈfaɪnmənt] n. 精细的改进
10. technician [tekˈnɪʃ(ə)n] n. 技术员，技师
11. kerosene [ˈkerəsiːn] n. 煤油，火油
12. dark [dɑː(r)k] adj. 神秘的，鲜为人知的
13. compartment [kəmˈpɑː(r)tmənt] n. 乘客舱
14. be in full swing: 正在全力进行，处于活跃阶段
15. cockpit [ˈkɒkˌpɪt] n. 飞行员座舱
16. briefing [ˈbriːfɪŋ] n. 简报
17. co-pilot [ˈkəʊˌpaɪlət] n. 副驾驶
18. cruise [kruːz] n. 巡航，指飞机完成起飞阶段进入预定航线后的飞行状态。